Pitt Basketball Preseason ACC Poll Ranking Revealed

Pitt Panthers men's basketball ACC Presason 2024-25 Poll ranking revealed.

Jan 27, 2024; Coral Gables, Florida, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers guard Jaland Lowe (15), forward Zack Austin (55), forward Blake Hinson (2), center Federiko Federiko (33), and guard Carlton Carrington (7) look on from the court against the Miami Hurricanes during the first half at Watsco Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers men's basketball heads into the 2024-25 season with high hopes, but just a seventh place ranking in the ACC preseason poll.

Duke came in at No. 1 with 42 first-place votes, North Carolina in second with 11 first-place votes and then Wake Forest in third with one place vote. Clemson, who made the Elite Eight last season, Virginia and Miami ranked fourth-sixth place, respectively, ahead of Pitt.

No. 10 through No. 18 featured Notre Dame, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, ACC newcomer SMU, Virginia Tech, Florida State, ACC newcomers Cal and Stanford and Boston College in last place, respectively.

ACC Men's Basketball Preseason Predicted Order of Finish for the 2024-2025 season.

🔗 https://t.co/eeqt3A16xE pic.twitter.com/EQIwU35E1H

— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) October 15, 2024

Pitt finished 22-12 overall after a poor start to ACC play, finished 12-8 in conference games, which earned them a double-bye in the ACC Tournament. A finish in the ACC Tournament Semifinals wasn't enough for the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, who kept them out, ending their season

The Panthers also exceeded their preseason ranking the past two seasons. The 2023-24 ACC preseason Poll had them at No. 9 and they finished No. 4 and the 2022-23 ACC poll had them at No. 13 and they finished No. 5.

Pitt also had senior guard Ish Leggett make the All-ACC Second Team, one of 10 players the conference recognized on both the First and Second Teams.

Leggett, who won the ACC Sixth Man of the Year Award last season, comes back to man a backcourt with sophomore guard Jaland Lowe.

Lowe played in all 33 games in the 2023-24 season, starting the final 19 games, while averaging 26.5 minutes, scoring 9.6 points, dishing out 3.3 assists and grabbing 2.8 rebounds per game, respectively. He also shot 38.8% from the field, 35.2% from 3-point range and 85.5% from the free-throw line.

Leggett averaged 12.3 points and 1.9 assists per game led the Panthers with 5.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, while also shooting 42.7% from the field, 34.9% from 3-point range and 85.9% from the foul line last season.

Pitt will also have a frontcourt of returners in redshirt senior Zack Austin and juniors in twins Jorge and Guillermo Diaz Graham. They also have junior Cam Corhen, who transferred in from Florida State, redshirt freshman Papa Amadou Kante, who missed all last season with injury, and freshman Amdy Ndiaye.

The Panthers also added Houston graduate transfer Damian Dunn and freshman guards Brandin "Beebah" Cummings and Amsal Delalić. Cummings is the brother of former Panthers guard Nelly Cummngs (2022-23), and Delalić hails from Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Pitt head coach Jeff Capel heads into his seventh season at the helm and will hope his players will improve upon last season, that the losses of forward Blake Hinson to graduation and Bub Carrington to the NBA Draft won't hurt this team too much, as they look to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

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